


Dragon Night

by okapifeathers (giratinas)



Category: BanG Dream! Girl's Band Party! (Video Game)
Genre: Established Relationship, F/F, Family Drama, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-21
Updated: 2018-09-21
Packaged: 2019-07-04 04:20:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 16,205
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15833637
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/giratinas/pseuds/okapifeathers
Summary: Misaki learns how to date someone with an unbelievably extravagant background and an eccentric personality. Kokoro learns that you can’t hide everything.





	Dragon Night

**Author's Note:**

> i will carry this ship on my back, face god and walk backwards into hell.
> 
> this is a sequel to Hello, My Happy World, so please read that first.
> 
> yes, this is really how hhw canonically composes their music. i would have posted earlier but i was busy getting 3rd in the hhw event on en bandori. now you get a double post!
> 
> PS: i've been made aware that misaki also has a brother. for the sake of this au, he lives with the absent mother.

“So, how’s life on the other side?”

Misaki blinked as if coming out of a stupor, and looked up from where she was sitting. Arisa was there, leaning against the tree Misaki was under. She'd just been watching Kokoro and Hagumi dance in the schoolyard... 

“What do you mean, ‘the other side’?”

Arisa sighed, sliding down the side of the tree until she was sitting next to Misaki.

“Like the part after you start dating someone. Is everything different now?”

Misaki hummed as her eyes followed Kokoro spinning across the grass. “I guess it depends what you mean by different. I’ve saved like two thousand yen now that I don’t have to buy my own coffee every morning.”

“But do you feel different? Like, around people?”

Kokoro began skipping in the distance, racing with Hagumi, and Misaki’s irises traveled along with her. “Not really. Everything feels the same as before, except around Kokoro.”

“Yeah, well everyone feels different around Kokoro. It’s like she’s from a whole other planet.”

“Like Kasumi?”

“Nobody mentioned Kasumi!” Arisa huffed. “We aren’t talking about Kasumi.”

Misaki smiled to herself. “But you’re thinking about her.”

“I’m not. I just asked a question, that’s all.”

“Don’t worry. Rimi told me you’re nervous about it.”

“Rimi!” Arisa ground her teeth. “What else did she say?”

Misaki rolled her shoulders as Hagumi took a tumble. “Don’t worry so much. I don’t really have a lot of experience, but… it’s different, in a nice sort of way. Only with Kokoro though, everything else is the same.”

“Well,” Arisa said, picking at the grass, “that doesn’t sound so bad.”

“She still drives me up the wall some days. I’m just more tolerant now.”

“So you’ve become weaker? What happened to the Misaki who moaned and groaned about her eternal headache all the time?”

“She’s reconsidered,” Misaki replied. “Sometimes, there are things worth sticking around for.”

Arisa smirked. “The bear suit?”

“Among other things.” Misaki drew her knees to her chest, surprised at her own reaction. A few weeks ago she might have condemned having to wear the oversized pink mascot costume. If it weren’t for the suit, she never would have been invited into the band, after all.

“You gonna rip your eyes off your weirdo girlfriend or am I gonna keep talking to your hair clip?”

Misaki reached up to fiddle with the clip, still not looking at Arisa. 

“Depends what you wanna talk about. It’s still kind of unclear.”

They sat through a few moments of silence as the grass leaned with the breeze and the leaves rustled above them. Summer was closing in quickly and Misaki was looking forward to the uniform change. She felt blue was more her colour.

“Okay, so maybe it’s about Kasumi. Or maybe it’s not, but theoretically-”

“Theoretically,” Misaki interjected, “your question might be…?”

“I really do mean what I asked.” Arisa reaffirmed. “What if I go for it, and it all works out and we’re happy and whatever and then it stops working out? Like, in the band?”

“Uhh,” Misaki considered Arisa’s position. “Why don’t you just ask them how they feel? I’m pretty sure they wouldn’t care.”

Arisa’s eyes narrowed. “They can say whatever they want; doesn’t mean it’s gonna work out.”

“Or it could work out. How do you know if you don’t try?”

“Okay, who are you and what did you do with Misaki?”

Misaki covered her mouth as she laughed. “Am I really that different now? It hasn’t even been that long.”

Arisa crossed her arms. “Kokoro works fast, I guess. Soon you’ll be just as outgoing as her.”

“I don’t think it’ll go that far. It’s just, if I’d never changed my outlook then maybe I never would have given her a shot at all.” Misaki stretched her legs out in front of her. “I still don’t really know how into this I am, but I’m happy. That has to count for something.”

“Maybe.” Arisa tilted her head, as if contemplating Misaki’s words. “But if you never made the leap, then how would you even know what you’re missing? Would you care?”

“If you never try, then you’ll never get Kasumi off your mind.” Misaki replied frankly, deciding at last to avert her eyes from the troublemakers across the yard. “You’ll just think about it all the time, whether or not you’re sure it would’ve worked out. Even if you didn’t know you liked her so much, you wouldn’t be able to stop until you knew.”

“I guess that’s what was going through your mind after you found out she was interested, huh?”

Misaki cringed at herself as her mouth let a groan of nervousness escape. “Eeh… er, well, I was sort of in denial about it. So really, I just confused myself.”

“You give terrible advice, Misaki.” Arisa huffed.

“So did Sayo, but part of what helped me was realizing she was right. You know, about me fitting in with the band. I don’t have to be so different from them, not unless I want to be.” Misaki grinned. “There’s a lot I still have to figure out, but I made some progress.”

“Hmm,” Arisa moved to stand up, adjusting her skirt and flipping her pigtails over her shoulders. “Personally, I think you’re losing it.”

Misaki shrugged. “You win some, you lose some.”

She followed Arisa’s lead, standing up and brushing bits of grass off of her uniform. It was warm, even in the shade, and her back felt uncomfortably sweaty. She had no idea how Kokoro and Hagumi could have any fun at all running around in the heat, but there they were.

“Do you have any questions left?” Arisa turned to Misaki, hand on her hip. “Like, about what might happen between you guys and Hello Happy?”

Misaki didn’t even really have to think about that one. “No, nothing will happen with the band. I’m not worried about that.”

“Misakiiii!”

They both turned their heads at the sound of Kokoro’s voice. 

Hagumi was standing next to her, but what caught Misaki’s attention was a doubtful-looking Kanon, hands clasped together in her classic ‘I need help’ pose. 

“Uhhh.” Misaki looked between them as Arisa slowly began inching away in the opposite direction.

Kokoro cupped her hands around her mouth. “We decided we’re going to dance for the next song, like idols! Come practice with us!”

“Eh?” Misaki muttered under her breath. “But Kanon can’t play drums and…”

Arisa raised her hands and continued to back away.

“Arisa can come too!” Hagumi mimicked Kokoro, shouting across the courtyard.

“Bye Misaki, good luck saving Kanon.” Arisa turned and started jogging towards the school, taking Misaki’s daily dose of sanity along with her.

Misaki could do nothing but sigh, though she smiled anyway. It was going to take some convincing to save her bandmates from themselves.

Kokoro’s hand flew up and she rested it on her brow, posing like she was looking at something in the distance. 

“Hey, does Sayo wanna come too?”

Misaki blinked. Sayo?

She glanced around, not seeing anyone. Then out of the corner of her eye, she spotted a sliver of teal. Sayo was there, standing on the other side of the tree and looking rather stupefied. They made eye contact and Misaki considered ditching everyone to follow Arisa.

“I… I don’t think…” Misaki stuttered. “I don’t think Sayo wants to come?”

The older Hikawa only averted her gaze and shuffled around the side of the tree until she was out of sight.

Misaki squinted, completely mystified. “Ohhhh-kay.” 

Choosing to ignore what had just transpired (How long had Sayo been listening in on their conversation?), Misaki tried to focus on rescuing Kanon and turned to continue walking. She considered asking Sayo about it later, but it might seem rude to approach her out of nowhere. Despite the odd behavior, Sayo was still a year above her and respect was something Misaki intended to uphold as long as their interactions remained impersonal. 

What really plagued her though, was what Arisa had said only minutes ago. Did she have any questions left?

She had answered truthfully, but it was all in the context of how she chose to interpret Arisa’s question. In all the time she’d spent at Kokoro’s house since she had met her, and in the four weeks of exploration they’d had with each other…

“Misakiii!” Kokoro shouted as she approached, Misaki bracing for the running leap she knew was coming next.

As the weight of her partner fell into her arms and her long golden tresses flew around them as they spun, Misaki couldn’t help but wonder when Kokoro’s parents would finally come into the picture.

\---

The very next day, Misaki intended to bring up the issue by doing something she didn’t often do: invite herself over to Kokoro’s house. They’d had band practice earlier and throughout the entire session, the mystery of Kokoro’s parents had never once left her mind. Even as she had one side of her headphones pressed up against her ear, the music didn’t really sound like anything to her and distraction proved itself the dominant force. 

Surely Kanon had noticed something, but Kaoru and Hagumi were still hopeless. Kokoro herself seemed blissfully unaware that anything was bothering Misaki, but there was a chance she was just keeping quiet about it. Regardless of who caught on, practice overall had been lackluster and not much was said outside of planning their next live show and saying their goodbyes.

Before leaving for home, Misaki considered looking around for the suits to ask them about it, but it seemed like none of them were around today. Odd, considering they’d started following her around too. Perhaps they knew what she was after and they were avoiding her on purpose.

An uneventful dinner and a lot of lying-in-bed-staring-at-nothing later, Misaki pulled out her phone and fired off a text to Kokoro that simply stated she was coming over, and there was no need to come pick her up. 

In return, she received a reply filled with ‘okay’ hands and a wall of hearts, which was nothing out of the ordinary.

A split second before walking out the door, Misaki decided to shove some homework in her bag so she would at least have a real reason to come over this late. She supposed she didn’t need a real reason anymore, but it made her feel like she was at least trying to be productive. That, and it made her visit seem less… sappy? Misaki never considered herself to be a romantic, after all.

Kokoro was her usual bubbly self when she came to meet Misaki at the gate, full of energy despite the quickly-approaching darkness outside. A black suit opened the double doors for them, and watched as they removed their shoes just inside the doorway. Normally, Misaki wouldn’t really think to look around - she’d only ever gone to Kokoro’s room or the meeting room - but tonight, she tried her best to take forever untying her shoes in the hopes that something might jump out at her.

She wasn’t exactly sure what she wanted - maybe for one of the other Tsurumakis to walk by? To hear someone from down the hall? To spot a photograph? There were plenty of photos all over the place, but all of them were of Kokoro alone.

“Misaki? Are you okay?”

Kokoro had an eyebrow quirked and was staring at her from the bottom of the grand staircase.

“Yeah yeah,” Misaki replied, kicking her remaining shoe off and carefully placing it on the rack. “I’m fine, just a little tired.”

Seconds later, a black suit materialized from seemingly nowhere and offered Misaki what she assumed was a very fresh cup of coffee. 

As much as she missed her wake-up fuel, it was no doubt much too late to indulge. 

“If I drink this now I’ll never sleep. Thanks, though.”

Kokoro took her hand as she approached the stairs. “Are you sure you’re okay? You don’t usually say no to coffee.”

“I don’t usually come over this late either.”

“Hmmm,” Kokoro pondered. “That’s also true. What made you wanna come? Did you miss meeeee?”

Kokoro leaned into Misaki’s side as they walked, still guiding her along by the hand. 

“Uh-huh.” She sounded kind of passive about it, though part of her really did constantly miss Kokoro - or at least, that’s what she thought the feeling was. It was hard to tell; Misaki was still figuring herself out when it came to that kind of thing.

“I knew it!” Kokoro shouted as she half-skipped for a moment. “I miss you all the time too. Even though I see you in class almost every day…”

Misaki chuckled. “And after class too. And at the studio…”

“There’s still a lot of time to miss you in between all that stuff.” Kokoro swung her door open and swiped Misaki’s hat right off her head, prancing inside.

Kokoro’s room had become familiar and comfortable the more time Misaki spent in it. Before, she’d always felt a little bit out of place, and part of her still couldn’t believe the kinds of things Kokoro owned. Some of the dresses in her closet still had price tags attached, and it was a random mix of affordable outfits people like Misaki could buy at a discount shop, and fifty-thousand yen and up outfits from… from Mitsukoshi, or wherever else rich people went.

She also had a very expensive telescope, which Misaki didn’t mind using from time to time. 

Misaki looked down at the floor, where dozens of loose pages of paper were scattered about. Most of them had brightly coloured crayon drawings on them; quite a few of were just pictures of Michelle.

“Are you writing a new song, Kokoro?”

“Hmm, maybe.” Kokoro sat down cross-legged next to her handiwork. “I was talking to Hina at astronomy club the other day and she said ‘Hey, wouldn’t it be cool to have a song about space?’, but I don’t really know what to do about it.”

“I guess we don’t have a song like that yet.” Misaki pulled out the chair at Kokoro’s desk and set her backpack down beside her. “Did Hina give you any ideas, or just the suggestion?”

“No,” Kokoro shook her head, long hair swishing across her back and skimming the floor. “We forgot about it right away, so we didn’t really think much.”

Misaki put her hand on her chin. “I haven’t been in the mood to think about songs much. If you keep drawing, then I’m sure something will come to mind. You could do that while I do my homework.”

“You didn’t finish? Isn’t it due tomorrow?” Kokoro raised her eyebrows.

The backpack rustled as Misaki dug through it. “I’ve been distracted at home. Maybe if I do it here, it’ll actually get done.”

“It’s because you’re happier when you’re around me!” Kokoro flashed her a grin. A moment later her eyelids lowered a little and her smile turned a little too sly for Misaki’s liking. “Or maybe you’re just too busy thinking about me all the time?”

Misaki quickly turned around so Kokoro wouldn’t see her face turning bright red. “I should tell everyone else what you’re like when we’re alone.”

“I could be like this when we’re not alone if you want.” Kokoro responded cheerfully.

“Colour your pictures, I’m doing math now. Bye.”

Kokoro only laughed as Misaki tried in vain to focus on reading her textbook. As she had learned very recently, Kokoro could be sassy or sarcastic when she wanted to be, which was infrequently enough that it was flustering to hear whenever it did happen.

Misaki chewed the tip of her pencil as paper rustled around behind her on the floor. She hadn’t intended to do any work while she was here, but it really was due tomorrow and she had no idea how long she’d be out for.

Time passed slowly as Misaki tried to get her work done, but ideas of how to approach Kokoro about her parents just wouldn’t leave her alone. Thoughts of alternative methods crossed her mind once or twice, but it felt wrong to try sneaking under her nose by intentionally snooping. Surely the suits would be watching them from somewhere the moment either of them left Kokoro’s room… maybe they wouldn’t intervene if Misaki had an innocent enough reason?

She glanced over her shoulder at Kokoro, who was spread out on her stomach with a handful of crayons in her fist and Misaki’s hat on her head. At least one of them was getting work done, if not in a bit of an unconventional way.

She slowly slid the chair away from the desk and put her pencil down, wondering exactly how far she could get with a simple request.

“Are you thirsty? I kinda want some water.”

Kokoro sprung up from the floor onto her knees. “Oh, I kind of am. I’ll ask the suit people to get some for us.”

She moved to stand up and Misaki panicked, shooting to her feet and reaching her hand out.

“Er, you don’t need to bother them. I can get the water myself. Where’s the kitchen?”

Kokoro shook her head. “No it’s fine, that’s what the suit people are here for. I’ll just tell them, there should be one outside the door!”

She stepped over her drawings and Misaki followed her, trying not to seem too hasty about it.

“They don’t need to do that for me, Kokoro. I can carry my own cup of water.”

As they reached the door, Kokoro spun around so fast that Misaki nearly tripped.

“Then I’ll get it for you. You don’t have to worry about it, okay Misaki?”

Misaki wanted to shout. She didn’t think it would be this difficult, and surely there was no way Kokoro hadn’t caught on to… something.

“Just tell me where the kitchen is. I may as well find out sooner than later, right?” She switched from wanting to shout to wanting to punch herself, because that definitely didn’t sound like she was talking about water anymore.

“You’re the guest,” Kokoro insisted, stepping closer to Misaki. “That’s what you do when guests come to your house, right?”

Misaki bit her lip and her hands fell limply to her sides. It was obvious she wasn’t going to get anywhere - not if Kokoro didn’t want her to. Part of her hoped that she was just reading too deeply into Kokoro’s actions, and that Kokoro just really, really didn’t want her to have to get her own water.

Kokoro took Misaki’s hands in her own and drew herself closer. “You don’t have to worry. Just stay here, alright?” 

She leaned forward and kissed Misaki’s cheek, and then she was out the door before anything more could be said.

The room was quiet without her, and the question of why it had to be this way settled heavily on Misaki’s shoulders. She just didn’t know what to do. Well… she could always just ask, but it felt like the wrong direction to take. 

She sighed and sat back down at Kokoro’s desk. She could finish her homework in the morning - it was definitely a lost cause for now.

A foreign sadness crept up on her as she realized she didn’t really believe Kokoro when she told her not to worry. She didn’t know much about having a girlfriend, but trust was one of the cornerstones of a good relationship, so maybe she should just trust Kokoro anyway. The implications of dishonesty pulled on her heartstrings, though in the end she had to remember the kind of person Kokoro was. She wanted to keep everyone happy – Misaki, especially. She was sincere, and a little too emotionally forward at times… but she had good intentions.

The goodness in her is what drew Misaki in, after all.

The door swung open and Kokoro smiled as she carried two glasses of water across the room, placing one on her table and reaching out to hand Misaki the other one.

Misaki took the water with one hand and Kokoro’s wrist with the other, pulling her in as she put the cup down behind her.

“What’s up, Misaki?”

“Hmmmm.” Was all she could respond with as she leaned half way out of the chair to wrap both her arms around Kokoro’s waist, resting her head on her stomach.

“You’re really funny today.” Kokoro ran her fingers through Misaki’s hair, carefully avoiding her clip. 

Misaki smiled into Kokoro’s stomach. “You’re funny every day.”

Kokoro giggled and Misaki felt it in her cheeks. She wasn’t ready to give up on the mystery yet, but maybe for tonight it was time to enjoy the company instead of argue with it. 

Later, when the moon was finally at its peak and the soft glow stretched across Kokoro’s plush carpet through the open window, Misaki realized she probably wasn’t going home for the night. The late evening consisted of little more than gossiping, cuddling and making out, for lack of a better phrase, and Kokoro was already passed out in starfish formation across her bed.

Far from tired for once, Misaki got up and wandered about aimlessly, stopping to sip at the water she forgot she even asked for. The taste of Kokoro’s lip gloss still lingered, turning the lukewarm water fruity. 

Eventually she flicked the light switch off, leaving only the desk lamp on. There wasn’t really anything else to do besides sleep, and yet Misaki’s eyes still wandered about the room without purpose. She stuck her hands in the pockets of her hoodie and shuffled across the floor slowly, paying closer attention than usual to the photographs she often ignored.

Images of Kokoro at all stages in her life were sitting atop antique tables, her younger self frequently seen with either the suits or seemingly nobody. A toddler on the wall by the closet, an elementary-aged Kokoro with short hair hanging up near the bathroom… pictures Misaki had seen before but never truly looked at. 

Above the desk was a decorative photo board that was mostly filled with below-average selfies Kokoro took with the band from time to time, her inability to sit still making many photos shaky and out of focus. Pictures that featured Misaki had slowly taken over half of it, and while she typically told Kokoro to knock it off with all the photo-snapping, she could still appreciate the memories Kokoro was choosing to preserve.

She picked one off the board and frowned at the image of Hagumi dumping an entire parfait into Misaki’s lap. Since then, she’d taken to sitting across from everyone else rather than beside them. Placing it on the desk, she plucked another one from the board and felt a little bit better. This one was just her and Kokoro, a messy selfie of them both eating crepes before they got together.

She reached for another, and as she lifted it away, a noticeably older, more faded photo slipped out from behind it and fell to the desk.

Misaki’s head whipped around to check on the still-sleeping Kokoro before she leaned forward for a closer look at what was obviously a photograph of a very young Kokoro and her mother. They were spitting images of each other, golden eyes and all.

Her conscience swiftly got the better of her and she fumbled with the photos as she tried to fit them back on the board the way they’d been before she meddled with them. She wasn’t sure why her stomach had suddenly dropped at finally catching a glimpse of Kokoro’s mom. It was as if she had told a lie, or omitted a truth - something that might normally lead to some kind of guilt.

She took a deep breath and rubbed at her eyes. This was no way to find out what was going on - not by sneaking around under Kokoro’s nose. At least she knew there was at least one parent, somewhere.

After a quick stop to wash her face and clear her head in the bathroom, Misaki ventured into the closet and pulled out the sleepwear she kept there for occasions such as this one. She climbed into the oversized bed and carefully moved Kokoro until she was right side up and wedged into her side, mind still racing.

Just as she settled, Kokoro stirred.

“Hnng, Misaki?” She whispered through sleep. “You’re staying over?”

“It’s late.”

“Oh, that’s okay… we should stay at your house… for sleepovers…”  
Misaki could tell Kokoro was barely coherent, and yet…

“I don’t know how my sister would feel about that. Why can’t we keep using your place?”

The covers rustled as Kokoro’s arm snaked around Misaki’s waist.

“Your house…” she mumbled, revealing nothing even while half asleep.

“Hmm.”

Kokoro drifted off again and the regret Misaki felt for prying resurfaced. Really, she hadn’t found anything out at all. 

If Kokoro was going to shut her down, and the suit people weren’t going to tell her anything, then all she could think to do was ask her friends for advice. There was nothing else left.

\---

“Did you have to bring Kaoru?” Misaki hissed under her breath.

Kanon began fidgeting with her hands as she watched the self-proclaimed bard fill her cup with soda at the fountain. “S-she saw my texts when she was walking me to the train station after practice. I didn’t know how to s-say no...”

Misaki groaned and considered leaving, but she was hungry, family restaurants were her favourite, and she needed to talk to someone. This was her life now.

“If she says fleeting one more time, I’m going to have an aneurysm.”

“Well…” Kanon blinked nervously. “She’s still your friend, r-right? Maybe she’ll come up with something?”

Misaki groaned and then hid behind her menu as Kaoru began making her way back to the table. Explaining to Kanon what she needed help with over the phone had been embarrassing enough, but now she had to tell Kaoru face-to-face and pray that it wouldn’t backfire.

“My kittens,” Kaoru slid into the seat next to Kanon, “I hear there’s trouble in paradise? Luckily I am an expert in dealing with matters of the heart.”

The menu shield smacked the table with alarming speed as Misaki gave Kanon a wide-eyed look. 

“I-I didn’t tell her everything!” Kanon waved her hands frantically. “She just a-asked what we had to talk about!”

“Truly, Misaki, you have nothing to be ashamed of!” Kaoru continued, ignoring Misaki’s quickly-developing sour mood with unrivaled precision. “Even the most loving of relationships have their hurdles. As Shakespeare once said -”

“Do not.”

“-love is an ever-fixed mark! Unwavering and unbreakable.”

Kanon gave Misaki her best sympathetic smile. By the sounds of it, Kaoru really did intend to help, even if she was a little misguided. It’s not like there were many alternatives, anyway.

Misaki rolled her eyes and a tiny sliver of a smile snuck onto her face. “People break up all the time, Kaoru, it’s not a fairytale. And no, I’m not breaking up with Kokoro. There is a problem though.”

Kaoru leaned forward, still towering over both of her companions even while sitting. “Do tell us your troubles, my dear. We’ll do our very best to ease your worries.”

“Well, I already told Kanon.” Misaki picked at the top of the menu with her nails. “Kokoro is hiding something important from me and I don’t know how to… resolve it.”

“Really?” Kaoru’s surprise looked genuine.

“Really.” Misaki affirmed. “Have either of you ever seen Kokoro’s parents when we’re at her house?”

Both of them shook their heads. Kaoru hummed and tapped her chin. “Surely they must be very busy providing for all of Kokoro’s needs. Perhaps that is why?”

Misaki nodded. “That’s what I figured from the beginning. But before we started dating, Kokoro told me that her parents didn’t even know I was staying over there. In fact, they don’t even know she’s in a band.”

“D-do you think they’re like Ran’s dad? Didn’t she have trouble with that?” Kanon offered.

“There has to be some worthy explanation,” Kaoru said, sounding quite sure of herself. “To keep a secret such as this from her own lover…”

Misaki visibly cringed. “Could you not use that word? Anyway, she’s never let you go off anywhere else in her house on your own, right?”

“I’ve never even seen her bedroom.” Kanon confirmed. “The suit people always bring us everything we need.”

“Yesterday, I tried to talk my way into going to the kitchen on my own but I’m pretty sure Kokoro caught on. She could definitely tell what I was trying to do.”

Kaoru leaned back in her seat. “Have you tried simply asking her about them?”

Misaki nodded. “She just tells me not to worry about it, which obviously makes me more worried. It’s like she flicks a switch and turns the conversation off. The suit people give me the cold shoulder if I ask them about it.”

“It must really be bothering you,” Kanon nearly whispered, voice laced with sadness. “To have something so important kept from you.”

Misaki slumped. “Yeah. I know a few weeks isn’t very long, but isn’t meeting the parents supposed to be a big deal or whatever? And we’ve all known her for almost an entire school year.”

“Very curious.” Kaoru pressed her lips together. “Maybe she feels frightened at the prospect of introducing you?”

“I dunno,” Misaki shrugged. “She was really excited to meet my dad. Everything went fine with him, even though he does think she’s a little too weird for me. He still likes her, though.”

Kaoru and Kanon shared a look, like they’d both thought of the same idea at the same time.

Misaki felt hopeless. “You would think she’d want to share all this important stuff with me eventually, right? If she really cares that much about me…”

“M-Misaki…” Kanon scooted forward and leaned in a little. “H-have you ever considered that… maybe Kokoro’s parents might be…”

“Deceased?” 

Kanon nearly fell out of her chair. “W-what? N-no, Kaoru, that wasn’t what I was going to say at all!”

Kaoru remained unfazed. “Ah, and here I figured we’d come to the same unfortunate conclusion. Could you call it a love story without tragedy?”

“Sometimes your ideas are the real tragedy,” Misaki muttered. “What were you going to say, Kanon?”

Kanon was still recomposing herself, pulling at the hem of her skirt and playing with the buttons on her blouse. “Do you think they’re… maybe they don’t like that Kokoro likes girls?”

“I considered that already. It could make sense, but what would be the point of hiding all of us from them? There wouldn’t be any harm in her just telling me about that if it were true.” Misaki concluded.

“Hmm... “ Kanon looked down at her lap. “I guess you’re right. It really is a mystery, isn’t it?”

“It is.” Misaki’s eyes traced over the menu again as she considered what to say next. There was probably no reason to mention the photo she’d seen, especially since she was technically snooping when she came across it. It would be better to keep that to herself for now.

“All I know is that for some reason, Kokoro doesn’t trust me to know the answer.” 

Kanon looked up. “Maybe it’s not that she doesn’t trust you. What if she can’t tell you?”

Misaki contemplated Kanon’s words carefully. Now that was something she hadn’t thought of before. She had no idea what the reason for not being able to say anything might be, but it was better than assuming Kokoro simply didn’t trust her. Regardless, it was something that affected both of them and eventually that was going to have to change.

“You guys know I like her a lot…” Misaki said quietly. “But if this is gonna be a problem for the foreseeable future then…”

“…hopefully it doesn’t come to that.” Kanon finished, this time sounding a bit more determined than usual. “You can’t give up on her, not that easily. Alright?”

Misaki was a little surprised; rarely did Kanon ever sound so sure of herself. She gave her friend a genuine smile. “I can’t. I’m just new to all of this, and I’m nervous and anxious and everything else. I need you both to knock some sense into me every now and then.”

“We’re here to provide for you, little kitten.” Kaoru grinned back at her. “Through thick and thin. Your troubles are our troubles. Love is fleeting, after all.”

It was touching, in a Kaoru sort of way. 

“Thank you.” Misaki said, still smiling. If it wasn’t so embarrassing, she’d have tears gathering in the corners of her eyes by now.

She just had to keep chipping away at the problem. There had to be someone who knew what to do. Right?

\---

“Have you seen Rimi?”

Misaki stood in front of Arisa’s desk, holding her lunch box. Usually, she ate with Kokoro in her own classroom now, but today she had a bit of extra time to wait around while said girl re-wrote a math quiz.

Arisa reached out and pulled another chair up to her desk. “Not today. Why, what’s up?”

Misaki put her lunch down and took a seat. “I wanted her opinion about something. Or her advice. I don’t really know.”

“What about me? I can give advice.”

Misaki laughed quietly. “You visibly tense up every time we talk about relationships. I didn’t think you’d wanna hear about it.”

Arisa squinted. “Don’t be ridiculous, I do not. Spill, tell me what’s up. Trouble in paradise?”

“Kaoru said the exact same thing to me yesterday.”

“Ew”, Arisa muttered under her breath. “I take that last part back. Tell me anyway.”

“I’ve explained this whole thing like twice in the last twenty-four hours.” Misaki sighed. “The long story short is that nobody knows anything about Kokoro’s parents. It’s like they don’t exist, and Kokoro doesn’t wanna talk about it. What do I do?”

“That’s kinda creepy. Ultra-rich girl living in a multi-trillion yen mansion and no sign of the parents?”

Misaki began unpacking her lunch. “Well when you say it like that, it sounds extra weird.”

“Kokoro is extra weird. But I respect your right to have questionable taste.” Arisa said, pulling out her chopsticks.

“I’m exclusively attracted to morons.” Misaki concurred with a straight face. “But seriously, do you have any ideas?”

Arisa paused a moment to think. “Did you rule out the fact that you’re a girl?”

“Kind of. I don’t think that’s it, but I guess I don’t know for sure.”

“I’m gonna assume that you’ve already thought of everything obvious. Kokoro never mentioned them at all to you?”

Misaki shrugged. “She mentions them sometimes in passing. She made a huge point of telling me how much her parents love this restaurant we went to on our first date. Some French place in Nihonbashi.”

“It’s kinda odd she’d take you somewhere her parents go to so often if she never wants you to meet them.” Arisa gave Misaki a curious look. “Did she talk about them while you were there?”

“I… honestly don’t remember that well. It probably sounds awful but I was kinda overwhelmed the whole time.” Misaki felt herself blushing. “She didn’t tell me where we were going so I just showed up in normal clothes, and then there was a dress code… but they knew Kokoro so they let us in anyway.”

“I can’t believe you forgot what happened on your first date.” Arisa snickered. “I wish I could’ve seen you in action.”

Misaki looked away, off into the corner. “All I remember is not being able to read the menu. I asked for one with Japanese on it but it turns out Kokoro can speak French. Not that I knew what any of the food was anyway… but that's not the point, you’re supposed to be helping me!”

Arisa ignored her request for help, clearly baffled at this new information. “Kokoro speaks French?”

“And English. A tourist tried to ask her how to get to some temple in broken Japanese and she just starts speaking English out of nowhere.”

“I mean, it kinda makes sense?” Arisa offered. “If she’s traveled all over the place then maybe her parents wanted her to learn. Maybe they have like… a big international business or something? Did she ever tell you what they do?”

“Nnnope.” Misaki groaned. “Kanon said maybe she just can’t tell me anything about them, for whatever reason. I don’t know.”

“Oh my god.” Arisa’s voice morphed from a shout to a whisper in three words. She leaned in and motioned for Misaki to come closer. “What if… what if her dad’s yakuza?”

“Arisa…” Misaki rolled her eyes. “Kokoro’s family isn’t yakuza.”

“But it all lines up, right?” Arisa insisted. “She’s got money coming out her ears, she has her own bodyguards, she won’t let you meet her parents or even talk about them… god, she’s an idiot, you’ll have to carry on the family business and-”

“That’s stupid.”

Misaki and Arisa both turned towards the source of the voice, standing in the doorway. It was Sayo.

“For once, I agree with you.” Misaki acknowledged her. “Do you even hear yourself, Arisa?”

“Well I’ve got no other ideas! Nothing else about her makes any sense, so would it really be that surprising?”

Misaki huffed. “It’s fine. She’ll come looking for me soon anyway. I’ll just call Rimi about it later.”

Arisa waved her off and glared at Sayo. “How long have you been eavesdropping anyway?”

“Long enough.”

Sayo moved through the door and walked around behind Misaki and Arisa, pausing for a moment near the empty side of Arisa’s desk. Misaki swore she was considering actually sitting with them, but instead she chose to sit herself down one desk away. At least she wasn’t hiding behind a tree this time.

“You should just talk to Tsurumaki.” Sayo said, her tone still as serious as it usually was. “Don’t you think it’s a waste of time getting opinions from everyone when you could just figure it out on your own?”

“She tried that, genius.” Arisa crossed her arms. “I thought you were listening in?”

“I was.”

“Yeah, like you were the other day?” Misaki smirked, finding a strange sort of amusement in Sayo’s antics. 

Arisa blinked at her. “Huh?”

Sayo’s composure faltered for just a moment. “Let’s not discuss that. You’re not getting what I’m saying. If you can’t just ask her directly or indirectly, then maybe you need to find the middle ground.”

“Hmm.” Misaki didn’t think she’d ever find herself considering relationship advice from Sayo, of all people, and yet here they were. If anything, it was certainly an idea.

“I kind of get it. Ask some read-between-the-lines questions.”

Sayo nodded. “That’s how you understand her so well anyway, right? You find the middle ground between ridiculousness and basic intelligence.”

“Do you really have to put it like that?” Misaki gave her a sheepish look. “You get the idea though, so I’ll give you that.”

“Wait-wait-wait,” Arisa interrupted. “Why the hell do you care so much about helping Misaki? Don’t you have some… brooding to be doing?”

Sayo sighed, and Misaki couldn’t really tell if it was in annoyance or an indication that she was finally giving up her facade.

“I’m just… branching out. I don’t do much outside of music and Hina is… encouraging me.”

“I still don’t get it.” Arisa grumbled.

“You’re not obligated to talk to us just because Hina and Kokoro are friends. That’s the connection, right?” Misaki figured it was the most likely reason, even though she’d heard through the grapevine that Hina and Sayo’s relationship was rocky at best.

Sayo looked nothing less than uncomfortable. “It’s personal, but that’s the gist of it. It’s not only about obligation, either. I don’t think I could manage being close to many of her friends.”

“So we’re the second choice?” Arisa questioned, still suspicious.

“Misaki was. I guess you come as a pair.”

Arisa grumbled to herself, while Misaki remained a little skeptical. “Why me?”

Sayo turned away from them again and rested her elbow on the desk. “Hina calls you ‘Kokoro’s boring girlfriend’ so I figured we might get along better.”

“I don’t know if I’m offended or content with that...” Misaki trailed off.

“Not being in the weirdos club is probably a good thing.” Arisa contributed, a little too sassily for Misaki’s taste.

“I dance around in a pink bear suit on stage in front of hundreds of people. Can you really write me off?”

“…Point taken.” 

“As unfortunate as that is,” Sayo said, stepping back into the conversation, “you seem like a well-rounded person otherwise.”

“That’s the nicest thing she’s ever going to say to you,” Arisa gave Sayo a sneer. “I’m not convinced.”

“Are you both this difficult all the time?” Sayo grumbled. “I’m not here to convince you of anything.”

Misaki shook her head and smiled. “No, just her. Wanna see what happens when we talk about Kasumi?”

Arisa smacked the desk with her fist. “This is a betrayal. Don’t you want my help with Kokoro?”

“Nobody was helping me until Sayo showed up. Besides, I think she’s right.”

Arisa opened her mouth and then immediately closed it again as Kokoro skipped in through the classroom door. Instead, she gave Sayo a look of sympathy. “Brace yourself.”

“Misakiii! I finished my test!”

“Did you pass this time?” Misaki felt like she was the only one of them who was happy to see the hyperactive girl, but she couldn’t really blame them.

Kokoro shrugged and pulled up a chair next to Misaki. “I dunno, it was just as boring as the first time I did it.”

“That’s reassuring.” 

“Hey, I-” Kokoro cut herself off as she noticed Sayo sitting off to the side by herself, though she’d clearly been talking with Misaki and Arisa moments ago. She smiled and patted the remaining empty space at the desk.

“There’s still room over here! And not a lot of time left to eat lunch, so you better hurry.”

Kokoro busied herself with opening up her own lunch and swapping half of it for half of whatever Misaki had. Resigned to her fate, Misaki could only watch as Kokoro replaced her soumen with some kind of fancy tuna, while Arisa snickered at them and dug into her own meal. Only Kokoro remained unfazed when Sayo at last sat down at the desk and quietly pulled out her chopsticks.

“How did you do that?” Arisa questioned, pointing a chopstick at Kokoro. “What are you?”

“I have experience with moody people.” Kokoro replied cheerfully, making direct eye contact with Misaki.

Sayo glared and Arisa stifled a laugh.

“Is this what it’s always like, Okusawa?”

Misaki nodded. “You’ll know if you truly fit in when you wake up tomorrow hating yourself, but you sit with us at lunch again anyway.”

\---

Sayo did come back the next day, and the day after that. Misaki still wasn’t sure what to make of it, except that it felt extremely weird. She was pretty certain that Sayo just tuned Kokoro out the entire time they were eating or talking, but toleration was above and beyond what Misaki expected from her new… friend? Close enough.

What she found the most value in was relatability. Sayo had her own troubles and even though she herself had difficulty moving past them, she did have insight that Misaki appreciated and often emphasized that she wished she could have been more open with Hina in the past. It wasn’t exactly the same, but Misaki learned that to move forward the Hikawa twins had to adapt to each other and let their true emotions out from time to time.

Misaki thought she’d done a pretty good job adapting to whatever the whirlwind that was Kokoro threw at her, but after her conversation with Arisa, it was apparent that there was still work to do. She couldn’t believe she forgot what her first date was like either, but it really had been overwhelming. Menus without prices on them would forever make her anxious now.

Yesterday, Kokoro had barraged her with text messages about swimsuit weather coming soon and how they should totally go to her private beach - just the two of them. While the idea sounded nice, she still couldn’t get past knowing the Tsurumakis literally owned an entire beach.

Those kinds of things were beyond someone like her. She lived a simple life and had few wants, whereas Kokoro’s wants (or even the things she didn’t know she wanted) were nearly treated as needs.

Misaki closed her locker and swung her bag over her shoulder. Despite everything, Kokoro didn’t really see the differences between herself and everyone else. That was both good and bad.

She pulled out her phone and speed dialed the number the suits had given her in case of emergencies. She only ever used it to tell them they didn’t have to follow Kokoro home some days, or to get them to knock it off when Kokoro was trying to do something on her own and they kept stepping in. All part of the desire for some kind of normalcy in the end.

She planned to go to Kokoro’s house again today, and told the suits as much so they wouldn’t lurk about. Even holding Kokoro’s hand when they were around was a sad mix of embarrassment and frustration.

Kokoro rounded the corner just as Misaki hung up, and then proceeded to beat her to the punch.

“Can I come over today?”

“Uhh,” Misaki rubbed at the back of her head. “Well, I was hoping we could go to your house today instead.”

“But I want to go to yooour house.” Kokoro whined as she slumped against the lockers. “I wanna listen to more of your music.”

Plans were already going south. “I can run home and get my CDs. You have a better sound system in your room anyway.”

“Misakiiiii.”

“Don’t be such a baby. My sister’s probably got homework to do anyway.”

Kokoro frowned and Misaki felt her control over the situation slipping. “But I like your house. How come you don’t want me to come over?”

“No-no-no, it’s not that I don’t want you to come to my house. I just-”

“I thought I told you it’s not boring, right? We could have a sleepover there this time!”

Misaki sighed and began walking towards the doors. Kokoro followed suit, looping her arm around Misaki’s.

“You can’t stay over, remember? My room is kinda full.”

Kokoro pulled Misaki’s arm down and laced their fingers together. “We can sleep in the living room. Like camping!”

Misaki couldn’t help but laugh. “It’s about as close to camping as sleeping in your bed is. I’ll talk to my dad about it, but probably not tonight.”

“But we can still go to your house, right?”

Misaki’s resolve dissipated and she agreed, mentally kicking herself over giving in to Kokoro in less than sixty seconds. Maybe Arisa was right to call her weaker. So far, though, the pros had far outweighed the cons.

When they turned down Misaki’s street, Kokoro let go of her hand and raced ahead, jumping up the apartment stairs two at a time. 

“Kokoro!” Misaki called after her, half-running and half-giving up on running at the same time. “My house isn’t going anywhere!”

Kokoro stuck her head over the railing two floors above Misaki. “I’m just happy!” She threw her arms out. “Being happy makes me smile and smiling makes me excited and -”

“Yes, yes, I get it. You’re happy we’re not at your house this time.”

She was met with the usual unwavering smile, and no disagreement. Kokoro just turned around and continued on her merry way. Misaki wasn’t even halfway up the stairs when she heard her counterpart knocking on the door and her dad mumbling an awkward-sounding ‘hello’.

Misaki felt sorry for her family in a way - not because of Kokoro’s mannerisms, but because she figured they might never really get used to the roundabout way she liked to do everything. Sometimes becoming queen of a star just meant going on a trip to the countryside with her friends, and making the whole world smile meant… well, Kokoro’s world. 

Kokoro saw the best in everything no matter what, and that included the almost inedible dinner Misaki’s dad insisted on making the first time everyone had been introduced. Misaki had picked at her plate of overcooked rice and blackened fish for almost an hour, and her sister carefully snuck her meal into the potted plant beside the table while Kokoro demonstrated that she could turn off her taste buds at will. To her it didn’t matter that it tasted terrible - it still had significance because Misaki’s dad had made it for them.

To Misaki’s sister, that meant Kokoro was nuts. And maybe she was… just a little bit.

Misaki’s thoughts left her as she stepped into her apartment and greeted her dad, followed by her sister who was at the table doing her homework.

Her sister looked up and pointed down the hall to their room. “She went that way.”

“Misaki?” Kokoro called out to her, “Where’s your hat?”

It may as well not even be her hat anymore. 

“Hanging up behind the door. What are you doing?” Misaki flung her shoes off and walked down the hall, pausing at her closed door and debating whether she should knock or not.

“Getting out of my uniform. Why?”

“What?” Misaki slid the door open a crack and slipped inside, praying Kokoro would be somewhat decent. And she was, in Misaki’s shorts and hoodie.

“Uhhh?”

Kokoro struck a pose and kicked her uniform under the bottom bunk at the same time. “Isn’t this great? Now I’m cute, like you.”

A familiar heat spread through Misaki’s cheeks and Kokoro smiled on, spinning in place. “Don’t do that! Take that off!” She lunged forward without thinking and Kokoro slid smoothly out of reach.

“What, right now? Shouldn’t we wait until your family isn’t home?”

“Oh my god, not like that!” Misaki stepped back as quickly as she could, putting as much space between her and Kokoro as she could manage. “Why are you like this?”

“Like what?” Kokoro flashed her the sly smile again, and Misaki felt her face burning.

“Don’t play dumb with me, I know how your brain works!” Misaki pointed at her with one hand and tried to cover her face with the other. “Just put your uniform back on.”

“You don’t think it’s cute?” Kokoro stepped closer and Misaki backed herself up against the closet. “It’s really cozy. No wonder you wear this all the time!”

She did think it was cute. Kokoro could make anything look cute, but she could never admit that, or she’d lose her entire outfit to Kokoro’s closet.

“It’s summer. It’s way too hot to wear more than one layer.” Misaki crossed her arms. “You’ll make it all sweaty.”

Kokoro took another step closer. “More than one layer?” She pulled at the front of the hoodie quizzically.

“Seriously?” Misaki’s voice jumped a little and her voice cracked. “You’re supposed to wear a shirt underneath!”

“But wouldn’t I be too hot then?” Closer still. “That doesn’t make any sense, Misaki. It’s summer!”

Misaki groaned and covered her face with both hands as Kokoro finally closed the distance between them. As Kokoro pressed herself against her, realization dawned.

Misaki moved one hand and peered over Kokoro’s shoulder with one eye, spotting a frilly red bra on the floor in the corner.

Without thinking, Masaki reached down and gripped Kokoro’s arms, which were busy trying to snake their way around her waist. “Are you trying to kill me? Put your bra back on!” 

“But Misakiii…”

“No buts! It’s different at your house because nobody else is around, but other people live here and -”

“Daaaad.” 

Misaki’s neck spun towards the door so fast she felt it crack.

“Misaki and Kokoro are making out in my rooooom.” Her sister groaned.

Kokoro started laughing and Misaki shoved her off. “No we’re not! We’re not doing that! And this is my room too!”

“Leave your door open, Misaki.” Her dad called from the living room.

Misaki spun again, looking back and forth between her sister and her girlfriend, who’d fallen backwards onto the bed and was still laughing like a maniac. She didn’t know where to begin, so her mouth just hung open as she tried to collect herself.

Her sister giggled a little too, in Kokoro’s direction. “You’re weird.”

Kokoro sat up and grinned. “Yeah! Misaki likes weird. She says I’m weird all the time.”

The younger Okusawa gave her a smirk that could rival Misaki’s. “I think we’d make a good team.”

“I’m going to the washroom.” Misaki interjected. “When I get back I’m going to lay down and die.”

“So soon?” Kokoro bounced a little on the mattress. “I only just got here!”

Misaki ignored her and walked out the door, still struggling to take control of her rapid heartbeat. Honestly, Kokoro picked the absolute worst times to tease her.

\---

Keeping her composure after that encounter proved difficult as Misaki listened to music with Kokoro, while her sister sat close by, browsing the internet. Adding to that was the nagging feeling in the back of her mind that told her she really needed to talk to Kokoro sooner rather than later. Sayo’s words were still fresh in her mind, but her sister… 

Kokoro was sitting on the bed beside her, happily humming along to whatever it was they were listening to. Misaki had sort of tuned it out already; she’d listened to every CD she owned dozens of times. So had Kokoro, but she remained enamoured and easily entertained with anything and everything Misaki owned.

She was happy they were spending time together as usual, but at the same time she found it difficult to enjoy it the way she wanted to.

Eventually Kokoro asked for something to draw with and sat down on the floor to get to work while her inspiration was still fresh. Misaki rolled over onto her stomach and propped her head up with her arms, still connected to Kokoro with her headphones. Watching her draw was relaxing, even though most of what she came up with looked like nonsense. 

What interested Misaki the most now, was when Kokoro drew Michelle. It was established that she was the big pink bear of course, but her bright-eyed companion still loved her metaphors even if she didn’t quite know it, and a picture of Michelle often meant that she had come up with something that involved her human counterpart. The drawing progressed slowly from a Michelle surrounded by nothingness to a Michelle floating through a starry sky.

“What are you thinking about?” Misaki found herself asking.

Kokoro paused and looked up at her with shining bright eyes. “Sunrises. Aren’t they beautiful? I don’t know if anything makes me smile more than watching the sun come up over the mountains or the sea. Have you ever seen one?”

“A sunrise?” Misaki pondered. “No, I think those happen much too early for me.”

“That’s a shame, we should really see one together some time. We could go on a trip to my house in the country!”

Misaki’s sister scooted her chair back. “You have two houses?”

Kokoro smiled at her. “I have seven houses! All over the place!”

“Ughh,” Misaki sighed as her sister gave her a look that was a mixture of excitement and disbelief. “Can we do this later?”

Her sister nodded slowly and mouthed the word ‘seven’ back at her with raised eyebrows, and Kokoro fell back into her project as if she’d never even mentioned her other house.

“So,” Misaki talked herself back into a more comfortable conversation, “you drew the night sky, so you probably want a song about what happens before sunrise. What’s Michelle doing?”

“Flying!”

“So I’m - er, Michelle is waiting for the sunrise to come?”

“She’s like you.” Kokoro stuck the end of the pencil in her mouth.

“Hmm.” Misaki pulled herself further over the edge of the bed, propping herself up with one hand as she reached for a page Kokoro had shoved aside. It was a drawing of Michelle again, and beneath that was a drawing of their friends - the rest of the band - but Kokoro herself was nowhere to be seen. She pulled herself back onto the bed and held one in each hand.

“They’re separated? Where are you?”

Kokoro shrugged.

“Is Michelle waiting for Kokoro? This is cryptic, even for you. I’m not sure what kind of song you want this to be.”

“It’s whatever you think it is. As long as it makes you happy, does it really matter what it’s about?” Kokoro’s grin widened. 

“Hey yeah, I’m leaving,” Misaki’s sister interjected, standing up from her desk. “It feels weird in here.”

“I can’t blame you.” Misaki rolled her eyes, as the door inched towards closing.

“Don’t forget to leave the door open!” Kokoro said happily, much to Misaki’s embarrassment.

When her sister turned the corner into the living room, Misaki seized her chance.

“Kokoro, can I ask you a serious question?”

“Of course!” She stood up and brushed off her (Misaki’s) shorts and stepped towards the bed.

Misaki rolled over onto her back and Kokoro sat on her knees next to her expectantly. It did feel a little tense, though maybe only from her own perspective. She wasn’t entirely sure how she should present her question, other than that she had to try and read between the lines with whatever answers she got. Her mouth opened before she could finish thinking it through.

“Do you think your parents will like me?”

Kokoro looked taken aback for a moment, and Misaki wondered if she’d somehow gone too far already.

Just as quickly, she was all smiles again. “Well that doesn’t matter as long as I like you, right?”

“But it makes you happy that my dad likes you, yeah? And my sister?”

“Of course! They’re really nice and I’m glad we all get along.”

“Uh-huh.” Misaki felt a headache coming on. “It would make me happy to know if your parents like me too, I think.”

“Oh?” Kokoro looked down at her. “You’re not happy now?”

Misaki sat up and took one of Kokoro’s hands. She could already feel the conversation slipping away. “It’s not that I’m not happy now. I could just be happier, you know?”

“We should do something that makes you happy then. Did you have anything in mind?”

A dead end. Misaki could see them talking themselves in loops as long as she kept her questions indirect. Maybe it was time to take Kanon’s theory for a spin.

“Kokoro, I was just wondering if… like, would your parents be okay with me?”

“How do you mean?”

Misaki sighed and leaned in a little. “I mean, would they be okay with this?” Misaki gestured between them with her free hand. “Do they know you like girls?”

Kokoro nodded vigorously. “Oh yeah, I’ve always been this way. It wouldn’t surprise them at all!”

So that wasn’t the reason. What on earth could it be then? What did she have to hide?

“Misaki,” her sister called to her from the door. She let go of Kokoro’s hand and tried her best to hold in a groan. “Can you make dinner? Dad’s going to kill us all.”

Kokoro pulled a face and tugged at Misaki’s shirt. “Can I sit next to the plant this time?”

Through her frustration, Misaki chuckled as she imagined her carefully smuggling burnt food from her plate into the dirt with a gigantic smile plastered across her face.

“Don’t worry, we can make something ourselves. Do you want to help?”

The puzzle had become more complicated in the last three minutes than Misaki had anticipated, but there was no reason for her to wallow in her disappointment when she could be spending her time with Kokoro in a more positive way. She was also pretty sure Kokoro had never made anything for herself in her entire life, so now was a better time to start than never.

Be like Kokoro. Be positive. Be optimistic.

It was all she could think about as Kokoro clapped her hands and leapt from the bed, more excited than a kid on Christmas to do what Misaki often perceived as being a chore. Low effort was the best kind of effort in her opinion, but Kokoro left no room for her to half-ass anything. It was a hundred and ten percent or nothing.

Misaki stood up and followed after her hyperactive other half. “Do you want to make omurice?”

Kokoro tilted her head to the side. “Omurice?”

Right. Kokoro didn’t really eat normal people food that often. She’d never even had a french fry until earlier this year.

As Misaki pondered where to begin, her body seized up mid-step as she realized Kokoro was still wearing her clothes and her dad was about to witness it. It took all of her strength to press on into the kitchen instead of walking right past it and out the front door.

An hour later, it was already decided that Kokoro would never be allowed to cook ever again, at least in the Okusawa household. The rambunctious girl figured that every food in the fridge could make a good filling after Misaki had explained the concept of omurice, and she spent most of her time trying to sneak anything she could into the pan rather than actually learning anything.

Eventually Misaki gave up trying to police her and instead learned how to cook with only one arm while her other one kept Kokoro in a neat headlock. Her dad had said nothing about that nor what Kokoro was wearing, but Misaki definitely caught him looking extremely concerned once or twice, and he visibly flinched any time Kokoro’s hand came close to a knife.

While they ate and Kokoro fawned over her newly discovered favourite food, Misaki imagined doing the same thing together in Kokoro’s kitchen and wondered if something like that would ever be possible. It was probably huge and she no doubt had an army of personal chefs to make her whatever she wanted, but there was something unfair about it being off limits.

Now that she thought about it, there were plenty of things she wished she could do with Kokoro at her mansion that she was beginning to doubt would ever happen.

They had practice with the rest of the band tomorrow, but the day after that… it was time to settle the Tsurumaki mystery once and for all.

\---

The school day felt longer than it ever had before and Misaki found herself checking the big clock on the wall every ten minutes or so. Kokoro remained oblivious in the seat next to her and went about her business as usual, which, surprisingly enough, was paying attention to the lessons.

Every now and then, Kokoro raised her hand and did her best to answer a question, but it often led to more questions and Misaki stepping in to get her to slow down and listen, two things she was absolutely terrible at. Even now, most of the way through the school year, there were still whispers amongst the other students about how annoying Kokoro was. She didn’t really have any friends outside of her own band. It seemed like nobody else wanted to deal with her.

It bothered Misaki a little, but she understood why most people avoided Kokoro, and by extension Misaki herself. Sometimes, people whispered about her now too.

When the bell sounded for lunch, Kokoro followed Misaki around as she looked for Arisa, but today their companion was eating with the rest of Popipa on the grass outside. They found out via text that Kanon was helping Chisato with something personal at the moment, so she was ruled out, and Hagumi was eating with her friends from the track team.

Sayo was someone who often came to them rather than the other way around, and as they learned today, it was because she sometimes occupied herself with Rinko and Roselia business instead of eating lunch at all.

That left Misaki alone with Kokoro and her thoughts, which wasn’t exactly bad, though she would have preferred to have some alternative company before diving headfirst into… whatever it was she planned to do today. She didn’t expect anything to come easy anymore, and her plan was shoddy at best.

The rest of the day dragged on so slowly that Kokoro had enough time to finish her English homework in class, and when Misaki nodded off for a few minutes, her English work as well. It didn’t bother Misaki; she was behind by a week anyway. When she wasn’t sleeping next to her, she was losing sleep over the girl instead. Homework was a struggle lately. What a mess.

At long last, the final bell of the day sounded and Misaki made a beeline for the lockers with Kokoro hot on her heels as she rambled on and on about all the books she’d read ahead of time for English class. She continued talking about whatever the topic was now even as they fished their bags from their lockers, and when Kokoro came up beside her, Misaki slammed the locker door harder than she meant to.

The small pocket of silence pushed her forward.

“Can I come over today? Someone’s over to repair the sink and it’s distracting.” Misaki lied.

Kokoro paused as if in thought, but quickly nodded. “Okay. If you really need to.”

Lying to Kokoro felt worse than Misaki imagined it would, as innocent as the lie was. She just didn’t know how else to get there without being talked out of it immediately.

The walk to the mansion was kind of quiet. They held hands anyway, despite Misaki’s sweaty palms that she thought she’d conquered weeks ago. It probably had to do with the mild anxiety she could feel setting in, and Kokoro hadn’t even said anything about the tennis racket case strapped to her bag.

The suit people were there to greet them when they arrived, and Misaki went through the motions of kicking her shoes off and being lead through the halls to Kokoro’s room by her hand. When they got there, Kokoro was quick to pull her uniform off and toss it into a corner. Misaki hid herself in the walk-in closet to get changed into something cooler instead of just doing it out in the room like that. Her only option at the moment was the tank top she wore under Michelle and some shorts she occasionally slept in, but it was good enough for a hot day.

When she emerged, Kokoro was clad in a flowing white sundress. Misaki had to pause a moment to watch the glimmers of sunlight dance on her hair through the window. What an odd feeling it was to think back to the time she realized she thought of Kokoro as being beautiful. It was a moment like this one, when the time was just right, and there had been something in those gold flecked eyes that had called out to her. It was as if suddenly nothing else in the world mattered.

And here Misaki was, in a drab black tank top and shorts she wasn’t sure had been washed since they were last worn. She wondered if Kokoro ever had thoughts like that while looking at her. 

“What should we do today, Misaki?”

What should they do today? There were a lot of suggestions she could make, but she should start small. Familiar territory.

“We could catch up on some of your shows?”

Kokoro nodded and clapped her hands in excitement. “Ah, good idea! I’ll ask for snacks!”

She skipped to the door and Misaki took a seat on the couch while Kokoro stuck her head outside. Misaki herself wasn’t one for watching anime - or really anything - but Kokoro always had a million things going at once and it was something safe and easy.

A few episodes later, they found themselves seated on the floor working on the song they’d been dragging around for the last week or so, still not really knowing where it was going.

It was when Misaki got up to fetch a fresh pack of crayons from Kokoro’s desk that she noticed.

The photos above Kokoro’s desk were gone. All of them.

She could feel big yellow eyes staring into her back as she gazed blankly at the empty photo board. Her heart dropped into her stomach as she tried to decide if she’d been caught snooping or not.

“H-hey, Kokoro? Didn’t you used to have pictures of us here?”

The two seconds it took for her to answer were the most dreaded seconds she’d ever experienced so far in her short life.

“They kept falling down, so I put them away for now.”

Misaki turned to look at her and struggled to swallow the knot in her throat. There was something about the way she’d answered that made Misaki think that perhaps that wasn’t what happened. She sounded flat. Dull. 

A light breeze grazed across the curtains by the balcony door, sending shivers up Misaki’s bare legs, even though it wasn’t really that cool. Through the open window, she could hear the cicadas humming and decided it was now or never.

“Can we do something else?”

Kokoro put her crayons down and leaned back against her table. “Like what?”

Misaki’s eyes trailed towards her backpack and she breathed in. “I brought my tennis racket and… I remember you said you have a tennis court, right? It’s a nice day, maybe we could play together?”

“Hmmm.” Kokoro peered out the balcony door. “But it’s getting so warm out, we’ll get all gross.”

“Since when do you care about that? You were running around with Hagumi just the other day.” Misaki crossed her arms and leaned back against Kokoro’s desk. They were so far from each other.

“Sometimes I don’t feel like it. It’s no fun doing something when you don’t want to.”

No turning back now.

“What about the pool then? Don’t you have two of those?”

Kokoro squinted at her. “But you didn’t bring a swimsuit, did you?”

“I can borrow one of yours. You don’t mind right?”

Kokoro drew her knees up to her chest and hugged them. “I wouldn’t mind, but I don’t have any extras. Maybe next time?”

Misaki sighed and began walking towards her, stepping over the papers strewn across the floor. “I’ve been in your closet, I know how many swimsuits you have. I just got changed in there earlier today.” She crouched down so she was eye level with Kokoro. “Why are you so against this?”

Kokoro let go of her knees and waved her hands frantically. “I’m not! I’m not! I just don’t feel like… like swimming today!”

“Then what do you feel like doing? You can’t tell me you’re having fun staying cramped up in your room with me doing the same things we do every time. Is there really nothing else?”

Misaki hadn’t really noticed until she finished speaking, but she’d slowly gotten louder as she went and Kokoro was leaning away from her. Why did it have to be so difficult? She couldn’t help but feel bad; it was obvious Kokoro was feeling pressured.

Sighing and scooting forward onto her knees, Misaki held her arms out. “Hey, c’mon. I didn’t mean to be like that.”

Kokoro looked away from her, but still crawled forward and reached her arms up to wrap them around Misaki’s neck. She hid her face as best she could in the tank top as Misaki patted her back. 

“Are you really sure we can’t do anything else? I guess I’m just… confused.” she spoke into Kokoro’s hair. “Didn’t you have everyone over for the sakura party? This isn’t that different.”

Kokoro just hugged her tighter and replied with a muffled voice. “It’s different, sometimes.”

“Okay. So sometimes we can do things and sometimes we can’t. Why… I mean, you don’t have to…” Misaki trailed off, struggling to find the words. She still didn’t quite know what to say. “There has to be something you feel safe doing.”

Safe was a funny choice of words and yet she found it made the most sense. She didn’t even know what she meant anymore.

Kokoro suddenly pulled her head away and then leaned back in to kiss Misaki - her favourite method of distraction as of late. As nice as it was, Kokoro wasn’t about to get away with it. After a few moments, Misaki cupped Kokoro’s cheeks in her hands and pulled her back a little, which was difficult with two very adamant arms still wrapped around her neck.

“Kokoro?”

The girl sighed and bit her lip. “If we… if you be good, we can watch a movie. In the theatre.”

“You have a theatre?”

Kokoro nodded. “It’s not big, but we can go there. You just gotta listen to me, okay?”

At last. Even the tiniest speck of progress was refreshing.

Misaki stood up a little too fast and pulled Kokoro up with her, leaving her toes dangling above the floor.

“Okay, where is it?” Misaki headed for the door as if Kokoro wasn’t a human-sized weight hanging from her neck. 

“Hey, hey!” Kokoro shouted. “Let me get down!”

Misaki leaned down a little so Kokoro could drop safely to the floor, but remained bent over. 

“Do you want a piggyback?”

Kokoro’s eyes lit up and she shuffled around excitedly on the spot. Piggybacks were God’s gift to man in her opinion, and Misaki rarely allowed her to indulge. Just because she could carry both Kokoro and Hagumi around at the same time didn’t mean she wanted to. The mood started to stagnate and it was time for a pick-me-up, literally.

Kokoro clambered onto her back and wrapped her arms around Misaki’s neck, and Misaki looped her arms under Kokoro’s legs. 

“Alright, where to?”

Kokoro pointed happily at the door. “That way! Then to the right!”

Even Misaki felt a little bit giddy as she swung the door open and broke into a slow, light jog. For some reason, she felt like Kokoro weighed less than usual today. 

They made quite the pair as they ran through the halls, Kokoro pointing and calling out directions while Misaki took in her new surroundings. Why did one family need so many giant decorative vases?

After a few minutes, Misaki did notice they’d passed the same doors once or twice, but she figured that was just Kokoro trying to prolong her limited-time taxi service. 

Eventually they found their way downstairs, and caught the tiniest glimpse of a gigantic and luxurious living room before arriving at what Misaki assumed was the home theatre.

Kokoro reluctantly slid off her back and looked to the left and then the right, as if she were preparing to cross a street. Not suspicious at all. 

She pushed the door open and Misaki followed her eagerly.

There were a few rows of fancy leather recliners inside, and a huge wall covered with a white screen. It was basically a full-sized theatre, but with fewer seats. Misaki found she still had trouble wrapping her head around things Kokoro just sort of… had.

“So what do you want to watch?”

Misaki looked at Kokoro, who had pulled open the doors of a large cabinet to reveal what must have been hundreds of films and anime DVDs.

“You pick.” Misaki hadn’t even thought about what to watch at all, and she was still taking everything in. To think that Kokoro would never want to share things like this with her friends… there was no way. She’d gotten this far and she had to keep pushing.

Kokoro was busying herself by searching for something, so Misaki inched her way back to the door they’d came in. Maybe if she was quick, nobody would notice her sneaking out to the washroom on her own. As soon as she touched the door handle, Kokoro’s head whipped around.

“Misaki!” she shouted as she spun the rest of herself. “Hey, what are you doing?”

“I have to pee.” She started pushing the door open. “I saw the washroom right back there around the corner. I’ll only be a minute.”

Abandoning the movies, Kokoro walked quickly towards her. “You can’t just go out by yourself! I’ll take you, just give me a sec.”

Misaki took her hands off the door and crossed her arms. “What? Of course I can. I can go on my own.”

“No, you can’t. Just wait!”

Misaki ignored her as she closed in and pulled the door open, one foot off the ground when Kokoro’s hand suddenly wrapped around her wrist and yanked her back inside.

“Ouch - hey! What are you doing?”

“I said you have to be good! Maybe we should just go back to my room instead. We can work on the song again?”

Misaki put her foot down. “Kokoro. I don’t know what you’re talking about. Be good? Can you just take like two seconds to explain to me what you mean by that?”

Kokoro huffed and her cheeks puffed up. “Just listen. You tell me to listen all the time! Why can’t you, huh? Let’s just do something else; you aren’t smiling anymore.”

“How can I just listen to you when I don’t even know why I have to? I know you’re not stupid and neither am I. There’s no way you don’t see something wrong with this.”

“Something wrong with what? With me and you?”

“Yes, I mean, no – I…” Misaki stumbled over her words as her voice started rising again. “Is there something wrong? Yes. Between me and you? I don’t know!”

“You don’t even know?” Kokoro sunk to the floor, legs splayed out on either side of her. “Then how do you know anything’s wrong?”

“Ughh! Of course something’s wrong! Honestly, you drive me crazy sometimes!”

Kokoro looked down at her legs. “Then why don’t you leave? That’s what everyone at school says about me too.”

Misaki pulled at her hair. “What do the people at school have to do with this?! They aren’t the ones keeping things from me!”

Kokoro had nothing to say to that, continuing to stare at her lap.

“Come on, Kokoro! It doesn’t matter what anyone else says about you; you know neither of us care about them. But you say you care about me and then… and then this! You freak out or shut down whenever I suggest we do anything at your house and I don’t know why! And your parents-”

Kokoro’s head shot up.

“-why are you so secretive about them? Are you hiding something? When you’re in a relationship with someone you’re supposed to work together, not push them away!”

“I’m not pushing you away! I would never do that!”

“You are,” Misaki stressed. “You do it every time you lie to me about why we can’t do whatever it is I come up with. You can’t seriously believe I’m oblivious to it, can you?”

“I’m not… I…” Kokoro trailed off, her hands trembling. Misaki swore she was about to start crying, and she didn’t know what she was going to do if that happened. The argument had already gone farther than she ever intended and regret was seeping into her bones.

Just as she was about to keep going, Kokoro launched to her feet and glared at her. There was something Misaki had never seen before in her - anger. As she always figured it would, the snarl that was slowly forming looked horribly wrong on someone who took pride in finding happiness in everything.

“You don’t understand!” Kokoro shouted at her, fists clenched at her sides. “You just don’t get it!”

“What don’t I understand, Kokoro?” Misaki shot back at her. “How can I understand if you never tell me?!”

“You don’t know what it’s like to be like me!” 

Misaki spotted them - the tears gathering at the corners of her eyes. She felt her stomach flip over.

“I just want to be like everyone else, like you! I want to share with you and with our friends! I’m trying really hard but I’m scared and I don’t even know what to do! I don’t know what I’m doing, but I don’t want you to go away!”

Misaki stepped forward and took hold of Kokoro’s shoulders. “If you don’t want me to go away, then you have to be honest with me. Is it going to be like this forever?! You can’t possibly think this could work! Leading me around like I’m some kid and hiding me away in your room whenever I’m too inconvenient for you!”

“I don’t know if it’s forever!” Kokoro’s voice cracked as she shouted back, right up in Misaki’s face. “I can’t tell you or you’ll go away, and if I don’t tell you then you’ll still leave!”

Misaki felt wet trails forming across her hands and down her arms, and did her best to ignore them. “Well you need to make a choice then, right now.” Her voice lowered. “Don’t hide from me anymore.”

Kokoro sniffed and rubbed at her eyes with her wrists. It was almost unbearable to look at. “I already told you I can’t… I don’t know what else you want from me…”

The fight was already gone from Misaki and her throat was too dry to keep yelling. It was a disaster she didn’t know how to salvage.

“I don’t want anything from you.” Misaki said quietly. Her thumb traveled gently across Kokoro’s cheek, pulling the tears away. “I don’t want your big dumb house or free coffee or whatever the suit people keep buying for us. I just… I just want you. I want to spend more time with you but I feel like I’m trapped.”

Kokoro grabbed the hand on her cheek and leaned into it, lacing their fingers. 

“I like you.” Misaki continued. “I love you and… you know, everything like that. If you want to be… like everyone else… then you have to be honest, too.”

Kokoro sniffed again and opened her mouth to speak just as the door swung open.

Misaki’s eyes widened and she felt Kokoro push forward into her chest, locking her hands around her waist and closing as much space between them as she could.

Mrs. Tsurumaki looked just as graceful standing in the doorway as she did in the old photograph.

\---

“Hey, hey Misaki.” Arisa nudged her arm. “You’ll never guess what I did today.”

The sun was shining and students were milling about in the courtyard at the end of another school day. They’d finally made the uniform swap - short sleeves were a godsend in the heat.

Misaki turned towards her, curious. Then again, she was pretty sure she knew what Arisa was about to tell her. “What did you do today?”

Arisa blushed a little and leaned in. “I asked Kasumi to go on a date with me.”

“Woah.” Misaki feigned surprise. “I didn’t think you had it in you.”

“I didn’t,” Arisa replied flatly. “But Sayo said she’d beat my ass if she had to watch me make googly eyes at Kasumi all day without at least giving it a shot.”

Misaki laughed. “Don’t you think it’s a little ironic that Sayo of all people gives us decent relationship advice?”

Arisa shrugged. “I heard she has a thing for Tsugumi so maybe it’s not so surprising.”

“No way. I’ll believe it when I see it.” 

Misaki walked across the grass, Arisa following along behind her. They both took a seat under the tree in the shade and neither of them found it odd when Sayo made her way over to join them.

“Good timing.” Arisa said. “I was just about to ask Misaki what she’s been up to with Kokoro lately.”

Misaki groaned, accepting her fate. 

“So?” Arisa prodded her with an elbow. “Is her dad in the yakuza?”

Sayo snorted and covered her mouth, and Arisa shoved at her knee with her foot.

“No.” Misaki shook her head. “I met her mom, though.”

“What? No way!” Arisa gasped. “How did it go?”

“Hmm.” Misaki rolled her shoulders. “Well, she kind of took us by surprise. We’d just had a fight, Kokoro was crying all over me, and I’m pretty sure whatever I was wearing wasn’t even clean. I probably looked like some scruffy kid who walked in off the street. Then I realized I was also crying, and I had this big thing of snot going like across my cheek and-”

“Yeesh,” Arisa interrupted. “And she didn’t murder you on the spot?”

“No, but you can bet I felt pretty dead inside anyway.”

“Did you figure out what the problem was?” Sayo stepped in. “I assume you got some kind of explanation.”

“Yeah, haha… about that…” Misaki chuckled nervously. “Right after her mom walked in, Kokoro started yelling about how she wasn’t going to let me go and how unfair everything was and all this other stuff that just confused me even more. I was worried she might break my ribs or something. Her mom and I had to work together to pry her off.

“The whole time she’s crying and sniffing and honestly, it was pretty traumatic for me. I thought for sure the suit people were gonna barge in at any moment and drag me out the front door.”

“We don’t care about that part, give us the juicy bits.” Arisa pushed. Misaki swatted her shoulder.

“I’m getting there! Geez.”

Sayo rolled her eyes, but still looked just as attentive as Arisa did.

“So,” Misaki went on, “Kokoro’s mom told us to come with her for a chat, so we went to the living room and she made Kokoro sit outside. It turns out she was nearly as confused as I was, but… Kokoro wasn’t wrong to do what she did. She was just scared.”

“You’re killing me, Misaki.” Arisa groaned.

“I’ll get there! Honestly… anyway, she asked me who I was, so I told her everything. I didn't know what else to do. She had no idea I was coming over all the time, and she didn’t know about Hello Happy or even if Kokoro had any friends at all. I decided to ask her why Kokoro was so paranoid about being found out and…”

“And?” Sayo leaned in and Arisa rolled her eyes this time.

Misaki pondered what to say next. “It’s difficult to explain. The whole thing makes me kind of uncomfortable but… well, you know Kokoro’s family is like mega-rich, right?”

“Yeah, sometimes you win the life lottery. What else is new?” Arisa muttered.

“Well, when you combine a ton of money and a naive little kid who just wants to make everyone happy…”

Sayo nodded in understanding. “So other kids took advantage of her.”

“For her entire life, so far.” Misaki confirmed. “Her parents were away a lot, and the suit people are just there to give her anything she asks for. So when people she wanted to like her asked for things, all she had to do was tell them to get it for her.”

“Are you trying to tell me the most openly social person in our entire school didn’t have any actual friends until now?” Arisa scratched her head.

“Pretty much.” Misaki drew her knees up. “After one too many disaster birthday parties, Kokoro’s parents got pretty protective. I can’t blame them, though. Nobody wants to see their kid crushed over and over again by people she thinks are her friends.”

“What do you mean by disaster birthdays?” Sayo asked.

“People wanted things from Kokoro and never wanted to give anything back. Nobody ever showed up.”

“Kids are so stupid.” Arisa grumbled. “Kokoro is nuts, but she doesn’t deserve that.”

“Nobody does.” Misaki agreed. “Mrs. Tsurumaki especially became ultra-paranoid about people befriending Kokoro for money and nothing else, so she started pushing everyone away. Kokoro did her best to keep herself happy after that, but she had to beg her parents to let her come to a public high school. Kids are stupid, but teenagers can be... moreso.”

“Too much money is a curse.” Sayo said solemnly. “She’ll never get to be normal. I have to ask what you said to Tsurumaki’s mother though. It’s obvious you’re still together, even after all of that.”

Misaki laughed a little. “Well, it’s more what I said when I was fighting with Kokoro, since she was listening in. Mrs. Tsurumaki said she was ready to kick the door down when she heard Kokoro ask me what I wanted from her - something about it being Kokoro’s old habit when she wanted to make ‘friends’ with someone.

“I just said I wanted her. I guess it was the first time I really admitted to myself that she’s more important than anything else I can think of.”

Arisa blinked. “That’s all you had to say? That explained everything?”

“Well…” Misaki’s face reddened. “I also said I loved her, so I guess I outed us both in the worst possible way.”

“L-Love?” Arisa sounded like she had to force the word out of her mouth. “Aren’t we a little young for that? How do you know?”

Still blushing, Misaki closed her eyes and smiled. “Stupid teenagers, the both of us.”

“The mystery is solved, then.” Sayo smiled a little. “So you had your first fight. What’s next?”

Misaki stretched her legs back out. “Well, I still don’t know everything and her parents are putting a lot of trust in me. They ask a lot of questions and I’m kinda scared I’m gonna say something they don’t want to hear. Like, I don’t have any dreams or goals or anything. I’m just boring.”

“You must be something.” Sayo pressed. “How do you think you got to where you are today?”

Misaki grinned. “That’s almost something Kokoro would say.”

She paused as her phone dinged out four notifications in rapid succession. A quick peek revealed that Kokoro had gathered Hagumi and Kanon, and they were ready to pick up Kaoru.

“That’s my cue to go.” Misaki stood up and stretched her arms.

“What’s the plan for today?” Arisa followed her lead and Sayo rose shortly after her.

Misaki stepped into the sunlight. “We’re introducing the Tsurumakis to the band. We picked out a new cover song, and they haven’t heard us yet. I have to stop and pick up Michelle from the dry cleaners.”

“Uh,” Sayo gave her a confused look. “You’re going to wear the suit? In front of her parents?”

“Sure, I’m already neck deep. May as well go all in.”

Arisa gasped. “You’re a masochist.”

Misaki laughed again and swung her bag over her shoulder. “Everyone dies eventually, Arisa.”

\---

Had anyone ever seen Kokoro as happy as she was right now? Misaki doubted it. 

All in all, the introductions had gone well, even though Kaoru had gone way over the top as usual. She brought roses but forgot to remove the thorns, and ended up playing her guitar with hands covered in Band-Aids.

Hagumi and Kokoro were basically two peas from the same pod, so there was no trouble there. Kanon, shy and meek but all too proud of Misaki and Kokoro for working everything out in the end, seemed just as overwhelmed as Misaki herself did. They all knew what happened now, but it was still a lot to take in. 

It was hard to believe that Kokoro had gone on for so long without anyone to call a real friend. Truly, the band meant a lot more now to everyone; not just Kokoro. Their encounters with each other were, as Kaoru might say, destiny.

Dragon Night was more touching to listen to than Misaki expected, and she held back her tears inside Michelle. It was hard enough to DJ in the suit already. Kokoro clearly chose it because she found meaning in the song, and that wasn’t missed by the rest of the band. They probably had never played so well together before, despite not having even practiced. Nobody would ever know Misaki almost cried right there on the makeshift stage in the living room. Where would she be without Hello Happy?

As the evening wore on, they all indulged in everything Kokoro would offer them. Kanon spent what felt like hours watching fish swim about in the pond, and Kaoru nearly passed out when Kokoro’s dad handed her the fanciest, most elaborate hardcover playbook of Romeo and Juliet she’d ever seen. There was a whole library full of poetry and prose waiting for her.

Hagumi and Kokoro ended up in the pool with their clothes on, because of course they did. 

Misaki found herself lounging on the deck in the shade, lost in conversation with Mrs. Tsurumaki. She wanted to know everything about her, and truth be told, there wasn’t much to tell. Misaki was a simple girl who wanted for nothing until Kokoro tumbled into her life. 

Kokoro and Hagumi called to her from the pool, teasing her and attempting to wave her over. She knew what they were trying to do, and neither of them were about to take Misaki by surprise. She glanced down at what she was wearing - a sleeveless hoodie and some shorts - and considered her options. She stood and waved goodbye to Mrs. Tsurumaki, and then took off running across the deck.

Kaoru and Kanon were making their way back through the garden together and they both froze in place as Misaki leapt down the deck stairs three at a time.

Hagumi and Kokoro were shouting and cheering now, calling Misaki’s name and throwing up water left and right.

The pool drew closer and Misaki smiled to herself. This precious time with all of her friends… why not make the most of it?

She leapt and shouted for Kokoro as she crashed into the water, leaving all of her worries behind.

\---

“So, did you have fun?” Misaki asked Kokoro as she squeezed the water out of her hair with a towel. Night had moved in and everyone else had gone home, but Kokoro’s parents had invited Misaki to stay over.

“Yes!” Kokoro shouted. Her hair whipped around her face, flinging water all across her bathroom and the fresh clothes Misaki had just changed into. “The most fun I’ve ever had!”

Misaki pulled at her shirt. “Great…”

“What about you?” Kokoro bumped their hips together.

“You could say I had a good time. Just a little.” She smiled at herself in the mirror.

“I can’t believe you jumped in the pool like that! You were all woooosh and then you were all ‘Kokoroooo!’ and then splash!”

“I know what happened, Kokoro.” Misaki laughed. “I was there too.”

“Of course!” Kokoro reached for her toothbrush. Once her mouth was full of bubbles, she resumed.

“Everyone should come over every day. I don’t have to wait until mom and dad are gone anymore. They can come anytime!!”

“Yes, yes, just don’t forget we have to practice still. We don’t always have free time.”

Kokoro spat into the sink and washed her hands, forgetting her face. Misaki picked a face cloth off the counter and wiped the leftover paste away for her. “But I agree, we should all spend more time together.”

“Yessss!” Kokoro shouted, slipping back into her room. Misaki followed after her, feeling sleepier by the second. The last few days - no, weeks - had been exhausting, and kind of dumb, now that she thought about it. Mountains out of molehills… though she supposed it could have turned out much worse than it did. They were two very lucky people.

The photo collage was back up above the desk, and this time the old picture of Kokoro and her mother were prominent. Misaki had rearranged them and put it in the middle. 

There came a knock on the door just as Misaki sat down on the edge of the bed, and Kokoro ran to get it. 

Mrs. Tsurumaki leaned in and smiled at Misaki. “Do you have everything you need?”

Misaki nodded. “I’m good, thanks.”

“If either of you need anything, just let me know, alright?”

“Absolutely!” Kokoro grinned. “And um, can we… we can all have breakfast together tomorrow, right?”

Her mother nodded. “Anything you want.”

Misaki moved to lie down as they finished conversing among themselves. Her much-coveted normalcy had returned at last. Kokoro was happy. Nobody had to hide. It had all been a little too dramatic for Misaki’s taste, and now she finally felt herself looking forward to the future.

The bed shifted as Kokoro climbed in and the lights flickered off. The sheets rustled softly, everything else quiet except for the muffled humming of the air conditioner in the corner.

Kokoro pressed against her back, arms settling around her waist, and Misaki dreamt of the sunrise.

**Author's Note:**

> more to come


End file.
